SENTIMENTAL VALUE | COMING BACK AROUND

Sometimes an outfit just falls together, the sartorial stars align and everything just slots into place.
Starting with a totally statement piece and working everything around that one special piece.

That special piece is a cow print coat.
A cow print coat that was handed down to me from my cousin Katie.
A cow print coat that belonged to her mum, my auntie Debbie, who sadly passed away a few years ago.
Special just took on a whole new meaning!

It's a magical thing to know that the piece you're wearing once belonged to someone very special indeed. To know that, that particular piece holds so many memories within it and that you're now taking it on a whole new journey entirely, well thats a truly incredible thing.

Clothing often goes so much further and so much deeper than many people realise; for me, and my super stylish auntie Debbie, it's a way of expressing your personality, of having fun and creating your very own vibe.
I know that my auntie Debbie will be loving seeing her cow print coat getting some loving once more and I for one am more than prepared to be the one to love it.

It's always fascinated me how trend pieces come back around.
Even pieces as bold and as niche as a cow print coat. But hey, mine may be a very special hand-me-down but you can pick one up in Topshop right now at least 15 years (possibly even more) since the cow print coat I'm wearing was purchased.

Built around a cow print coat, this look is something I feel truly epitomises me and my style.
A hand-me-down coat, a vintage tee, a high street trouser and belt combination and then a more luxury statement bag and boot fusion.
A look that involves a whole host of trends and of pieces in very different stages of their lives, which combined, work to make the most fun and unique look.

I adore this kind of mismatched look, a mash up of pieces that on paper shouldn't work together but once styled up and combined, they gel in a way that is different from any other look I've ever styled before.

This vintage tee was an absolute belting find whilst out in LA a few weeks back. I did a little SOL (squeal out loud) when I spied it on the racks of second hand T-shirts at Buffalo Vintage. A long sleeved, slightly thicker than usual cotton T-shirt by Harley Davidson- it's a washed black cotton with a button slit neckline and the kind of piece that wouldn't go amiss on the rails of Reformation, but instead of the $18 I paid for it at Buffalo Vintage, it would be donning a $200 price tag. I've been wearing it at every given opportunity since I picked it up and it's surprising me on the daily with just how much it works with.

A particular styling favourite was this baby, roughly tucked into a pair of cream corduroy trousers by Topshop. I went a size up to get that really relaxed manish silhouette and finished with a pirate-esque belt to cinch in the waist and create a DIY paper bag waistline.

Mixing up the second hand pieces and the high street favourites with some treat-yo-self items with my new and much loved Gucci contrast lace boots, which, might I add are the most comfortable boots ever albeit a little heavier than your usual choice of footwear. And finally with the Chloe Tess bag, a bag I'm absolutely OBSESSED with and admittedly wearing at every given opportunity to add a touch of colour and a touch of seventies to all of my looks.

Mix up your pieces; ask your loved ones to hand down their old clothing, get thrifting and treat yourself to something new, it's that mash up of pieces that really allow you to create your own vibe, to find your own personal style and to style up something new and interesting entirely.

x M

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROSIE BUTCHER